Development of a hydro-economic model for the Great Lakes Basin using the input-output framework and disaggregated by sub-basins.

This project will develop an integrated hydro-economic model to assess impacts produced by water changes (in quantity and quality) to the gross output of industries located inside the Great Lakes Basin (GLB). This work seeks to assign a dollar value to each cubic meter of water that is reduced or polluted, quantifying the direct effects to the disrupted industry/geography, as well as the spillovers to other regions. The three main goals are: 1) estimate inter-regional trade flows between lake sub-basins, 2) estimate sub-basin gross output, and 3) perform impact scenarios to assess the sensitivity of industries, or regions, to water disruptions. The construction of a quantitative description, linking water to gross output, is a necessary step to properly assess the cost of environmental policies to the GLB, especially because it is responsible for about 36% of the total Canadian output. This data set is collected to support objectives of the project titled "Integrated Modelling Program for Canada (IMPC): Theme 2", which is a Pillar 3 project under the Global Water Futures Program funded by Canada First Research Excellence Fund.

Input data are downloaded for Ontario from secondary sources which are mainly from Statistics Canada (SC) website at https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/start and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) website at https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/water-withdrawal-consumption-sector.html. Economic numbers for 2015 are taken from the ‘supply and use tables’ published by SC. Water use data are taken from the ‘agriculture water survey’, ‘industrial water survey’, and ‘drinking water plants survey’ from SC. Data relating employment and population, per subdivision in Ontario, are taken from the 2016 Census by SC. Boundary geographical maps of subdivisions and sub-basin boundary files are taken from SC. Water withdrawals and consumption per sector’ for 2014 were downloaded from the ECCC website. The data from Ontario will be use as input forcing for the hydro-economic model for the Great Lakes Basin.

Brouwer, R., & Garcia, J. (2019). Development of a hydro-economic model for the Great Lakes Basin using the input-output framework and disaggregated by sub-basins. Waterloo, Canada: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN). (Unpublished Data).

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